1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of connector devices for freely securing a hydraulic hose bundle to a wireline.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A hydraulic hose or tube bundle used in oil well drilling and production is typically made of a plurality of individual or single-line hydraulic hoses bundled together in a compact design and having a plastic outer sheath. The diameter of the hydraulic hose bundle varies with respect to the desired number and size of hoses utilized. Typically, in an offshore drilling operation such a hose bundle is used to transmit hydraulic fluid under pressure from control equipment located on an offshore oil well platform or a floating vessel to a control pod for a subsea blowout preventer stack. The hydraulic hose or tube bundle is flexible and generally extends for several hundred feet or more depending on the water depth. Because the tube bundle is flexible and must extend several hundred feet or more from a surface vessel or platform to a control pod or a blowout preventer stack, it is necessary to attach the tube bundle to some type of support structure, as for example a guide cable or wireline.
It is known to fixedly attach the tube bundle to the extended cable or wireline via a series of clamps spaced along the extended cable or wireline. A type of control hose clamp known includes two clamping sections-pivotally connected by an exterior hinge and having an over center or off-center latch securing the control bundle and wireline between the two sections. Such control bundle clamps are manufactured in various sizes to conform to the various sizes of tube bundles utilized.
As offshore platforms and floating drilling rigs have ventured into deeper waters, the environment has become more of a problem to operating sub-surface through control hose bundles. The currents may be worse because of depth or even because of the area and the temperature of the water may even be a negative factor to the life of the control hose bundle. The light polyurethane that is utilized as the outer coating on tube bundles has a tendency to get torn up. The tube bundles are extremely expensive, and since it may be necessary to shut down a drilling rig or workover operation if a control hose bundle is damaged to the extent that the control pod may not be operable, maintaining the integrity of the tube bundles is a very important consideration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,791 discloses a clamp for hydraulic hose bundles having a pivoting clamping body with an inner deformable sleeve which is clamped to the tube bundle. The deformable sleeve protects the tube bundle from degrading and chafing around the clamped portion as marine forces cause flexing of the intermediate sections of the tube bundles.
In certain offshore oil drilling/production situations, it is desirable to lower a control pod or other piece of subsea equipment to the sea floor from the water surface or retrieve the same to the water surface with the aid of a guide wire or wireline firmly attached to a subsea template or other stationary equipment positioned at the sea floor. In such situations, it is necessary to leave the guide wire in place as the control pod and tube bundle are lowered into position or retrieved. Additionally, it is necessary to provide lateral support for the tube bundle running from the surface down to the sea floor while performing subsea operations.
In the type of hose bundle clamps known, the clamps firmly grip the tube bundle and firmly grip or deform the wireline or member to which they are attached. It is desirable to have a connector device which firmly grips the tube bundle and freely attaches to a wireline or guide wire to allow the connector device to freely travel along the length of the wireline. It is further desirable that the connector device can be quickly and easily removed from the wireline.